Oliver's Antics

Our little baby isn't just walking he is taking leaps and bound towards becoming a little person. He has quite the personality. He loves to wave to everyone and makes a bee-line towards any animal he sees. Anytime we are outside he has to collect all of the sticks that he sees and of course any good sized rock must be stuffed into his mouth. I used to run and remove the rocks but I have come now to the conclusion that it is probably better to just leave the first rock there, rather than keep removing them and have him suck the dirt of thirty or forty more.

He also has a bit of a fetish for toothbrushes. We got him one and taught him how to use it and he now insists on carrying one all around the house with him. His other favorite pastime is to "unpack". After watching me unpack everything for a week he started following suit. He now picks up anything and finds a new place for it. Last week I lost my cell phone and found it in a pot in the back of the cupboard. I pull his toys out of all my silverware and tupperware drawers and have yet to find my comb after he "unpacked" it for me. Ollie is getting pretty smart too, he understands a lot of words and will go find his blanket, binky or shoes if you ask him to.

Summer Showcase

So, to keep myself busy I found a number of projects over the summer. Now that they are all unpacked I figured I would show them to you.

When we learned how much apartments cost here in Denver we figured we would probably have to downsize and decided to ditch our large, corner desk. Over the summer I found this lovely gem for $5.00 at a garage sale. After a lot of sanding and some stain I think it turned out pretty nice. My super-handy dad helped us convert the top drawer into a keyboard tray and it fits just perfectly into our little loft.

My father-in-law made us this beautiful blanket box for Christmas. He gave it to us unfinished and I procrastinated doing anything about it until I had some space to work in. My parents garage turned out to be the perfect spot and after a lot of sanding I think it turned out gorgeous. It is now one of my favorite pieces of furniture, thanks John. (I am planning to make a cushion to turn it into a seat, I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.)

For me, graduate school meant two more years with my garage sale couches. So, in an effort to spruce them up a bit I decided to sew some new pillows for them. Ta-da!!

Our first week in Golden

Our first impression after living in Golden for one week is, "Wow, we're not in Utah anymore." We went to the school for a welcome barbecue for Sam's graduate program and the secretary and dean were handing out beer to everyone. It was on campus in the middle of the week at 11:00 a.m., I was somewhat surprised and for just a second I was ready to put on my ruby slippers and wish my way back home. I don't know if it is because we live across the street from the largest brewery in the world or because there is a bar on every corner, but the place just smells like beer. Once you get past that somewhat unpleasant aroma however, there really is a lot to do here and the people are so nice. Because Sam had a light week at school we were able to spend a lot of time exploring. There are several parks within a couple miles of our home and Ollie and I averaged about three different parks a day during the past week. (Ollie has a lot of energy and it is much easier and cleaner if he can get it out at a park instead of in our tiny apartment). We also visited the Denver Zoo and spent some time wandering around a mall that would put anything Salt Lake has to shame.

On Friday we went to a family music and movie night that Golden puts on in one of the downtown parks. It was great for Ollie because he misses his grandparents dogs and everyone here has a dog so he just wandered throughout the crowd greeting all of the dogs. Like I said, everyone is super friendly and after Oliver tried to steal their little girl's popsicle we scooted our blanket over near some new friends and they filled us in on all kinds of things to do here.

Oliver caught on to the zoo thing really fast and as soon as we came to each new pen he would start looking around to see what kind of animal lived there. As soon as he spotted it he would point and then make either his dog or sheep sound (the two animal sounds that he knows) after that he would just start laughing. It was pretty darn cute.


After Oliver chased down a little girl with a popcicle we decided that we had better get him one of his own.



Here we are at Lion's Park, it is one of Oliver's favorites because of the big pond that is great for throwing rocks in and because of the very friendly squirrels.

First day at church

So, today was our first day of our new ward. Naturally we were a bit nervous, but once we got there it just felt awesome . It was a tiny ward and everyone was so kind. Sam found several people who had graduated from his same program so he got lots of tips on what professors to take and who to avoid. And of course everyone loved Ollie. Then, as we were walking out feeling elated the second counselor pulled us into the clerks office and showed us that we are across the street from the ward boundary and actually belong to a different ward in a different stake and a different town. So it looks like we will be doing the whole "first Sunday" thing again. The saddest part is that the chapel we were at today is around the corner and our new one is several miles from home.

Old game - New rules

I just had to add this because it makes me laugh so much. Oliver loves to play peek-a-boo. He has however modified the game to better suit him; rather than place his hands over his eyes and pulling them off to "peek" he covers his ears instead. I guess he just doesn't want to miss a second of what is going on around him.

Summer Summary

There may yet be several weeks of warm weather left, but Sam starts school on Monday and so for us this marks the end of summer vacation. We spent this summer living at my parents house while Sam (a.k.a Crowbar) worked out of town for B&K Construction. Some people complain about living with their parents once they are grown. In fact, a while ago I probably would have scoffed at the idea myself. However, after three months of being with my parents I'd have to conclude that it is actually quite wonderful. We had such a great time and my parents were so kind and generous. We are so grateful for the blessing of being with them for a short time, especially Oliver. He is soooooo attached to his grandma and grandpa. In fact by the end of our sojourn in Riverton he preferred grandma over mom (probably because grandma let him have all the fun he wanted). Of course, everyone took a backseat to Ollie's grandpa. From the second my dad would walk in the door from work Oliver insisted on being at his side. His most favorite activity in the world was to feed the mules and the dogs with his grandpa. As soon as he saw grandpa put on his leather gloves he would just start laughing with joy.

We are sad to be so far away from them now, but understand the importance of establishing our own family. We are just so glad for the time we had with them. Here are some pictures of our summer fun.

Oliver loves dogs. He is really brave around them and usually laughs when my dad's dog, Zip, tramples him to the ground. He didn't quite enjoy this puppy though.


Ollie likes to help grandpa drive.

There is nothing like a cold popsicle on a warm day.

Over the summer Oliver visited the strawberry patch at least four times every day. No one else at the house ever got to taste a single one, sometimes he wouldn't even wait for them to turn red. He would pick them white and pop them into his mouth, leaves and all.

Happy Birthday Oliver

Our precious little boy turned one year old on August 9th. We had a special party for him, including all of his favorite foods: pasta salad, watermelon and lots of berries. His cake was also covered with berries. (We figured that it was the only way to get him to dig into it.) I just can't believe it has been a whole year since he came into our lives. He is now the center our our lives and we love him so much. He is getting to be so big now. He walks, he loves to pick up sticks, and play with animals. He absolutely relishes being outside, sometimes when he is out playing he will just lie down in the grass (or gravel) and smile - he absolutely loves it!! The first thing he does every morning when you get him out of his crib is ask for his blanket and then point outside and say "go". His vocabulary includes : mom, dad, go, no, bye, he also makes dog and sheep sounds.